Systems and methods have been developed that allow individuals to use their own search parameters to search for financial instruments such as, for example, stocks, bonds, stock options, and option strategies such as covered calls, covered puts, spreads, etc. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,783 entitled “Interactive Internet Analysis Method” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/676,374 filed on Oct. 29, 2000 and entitled “System and Method for Analyzing and Searching Financial Instrument Data,” the contents of both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety, describe systems and methods for searching and implementing stock and stock option strategies.
Although these existing systems represent a significant advance in technology, Applicants have recognized several aspects that provide room for improvement. For example, existing systems and methods for analyzing financial instrument data typically use data that may have been retrieved several minutes earlier to process user requests. Existing interactive systems download financial instrument data at periodic intervals such as, for example, 20 minute intervals. The downloaded financial data is processed to derive values for a set of searchable parameters, and the financial data and values for the set of searchable parameters are made available for searching by users. When a user's search criteria for financial instruments is received, the search is performed against the downloaded financial data, which may have been downloaded several minutes earlier, and the values for the searchable parameters, which are derived from the financial data that may have been downloaded several minutes earlier. Of course, during hours of the day when financial markets are open, market data relating to the financial instruments is constantly changing. Because existing searching systems download data periodically, the data used in these systems to respond to user searches may not reflect the most current market conditions. Therefore, in existing systems, although a response to a user's search may be generally accurate and very useful, it may be based upon financial data that was downloaded several minutes earlier and not reflect the most recent market data.
Existing systems provide functionality that allow users to search for and analyze individual stock option strategies. For example, prior systems allow users to search for covered call, covered put, and spread strategies available for a particular stock during a particular month. The capability to search for and review individual stock option strategies is very useful and has been well received. Applicants have noted, however, that prior systems lack functionality to allow users to compare and contrast different options strategies, e.g. covered calls vs. covered puts vs. bear-call-spreads, etc., that are available for a particular stock.
Applicants have also noted that once an investor has invested in an option strategy such as a covered call or bull-put-spread, the investor may have a multitude of trading opportunities going forward involving the same underlying stock. Existing systems lack the functionality to allow investors to identify and capitalize on these opportunities.
Furthermore, Applicants have noted that an investor with a position in a stock that has decreased in value may desire to get back to break-even on the investment. One investing strategy for doing so is referred to as “stock repair.” Generally, stock repair refers to an strategy wherein an investor with a position in a stock that has decreased in value sells call options equal to two times the number of shares of the stock that is owned, and covers the additional call options by buying call options at a lower strike price. However, it is not readily determined which “stock repair” strategies are available and the relative strengths of those “stock repair” strategies. Prior systems provide no capability to assist investors in locating and comparing stock repair strategies.